Jaromír Weinberger

  The Czech, later American composer Jaromír Weinberger (January 8th, 1896 – August 8th, 1967) was born in Jewish family in Prague, where he lived until 1937. He was one of the first Czech film music composers (Na růžích ustláno - 1934). He studied at the Conservatories in Prague (K. Hoffmeister) and in Leipzig. He studied with M. Reger and assumed into his own technique. In 1939, after extensive travels to the United States, Bratislava, Vienna and Paris, he fled his native country to escape the Nazis (he was of Jewish origin) and settled in N. Y. State, teaching there and in Ohio. He became an American citizen in 1948. During the 1950s, Weinberger moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. In later life, he developed cancer of the brain, and this, together with money worries and the neglect of his music, prompted him to take a lethal drug overdose. Weinberger composed over 100 works; the best known is the opera Švanda dudák (Švanda Bagpiper), a world-wide success after its première in 1927 (Vienna - 1930, Metropolitan Opera New York - 1931, Covent Garden London - 1934, State Opera Berlin, …). This year we are reminding 40 years since his tragically death.

Erwin Schulhoff

  Erwin Schulhoff (June 8th 1894 - August l8th 1942) came from Prague Jewish-German family. He started his musical studies at the Prague Conservatory of Music, continued them in Vienna and Leipzig (where his composition teacher was Max Reger) and completed them successfully in Cologne. The promising start of his career as a composer and pianist was interrupted by the outbreak of the 1WW, a time that he spent as a soldier on the eastern front. This experience completely changed his vision of the world and of the art. As the great pianist, he performed contemporary compositions in many prestigious music festivals in Europe. As the composer he produced many works written for piano, chamber music and for orchestra (at the time his death he was sketching his 7th and 8th Symphony). Following the tragic events of the 1938-39 period he was considering the possibility of settling down in the Soviet Union (he even obtained Soviet citizenship), but he could not make it. After the attack of Germans on the Soviet Union, he was arrested and imprisoned first in Prague and later in the Wulzburg camp, where he died of tuberculosis after about a one-year of imprisonment.

James Simon

  German composer, pianist and musicologist James Simon (September 29th, 1880 - August 12th 1944, the date of his deportation from Theriesienstadt to Auschwitz) was born into the Jewish family in Berlin and murdered in Auschwitz in 1944 after the Theriesienstadt experience (1941-1944). He studied at the Musikhochschule in Berlin piano (C. Ansorge) and composition (Max Bruch). In 1934 he was forced to leave Germany to Zurich, later Amsterdam where he was arrested and deported to Theriesienstadt. While some of Simon's piano pieces, songs and his opera "Frau im Stein" (1918) were published, lot of his great compositions are still remaining unperformed. He is called "Lost Composer".

Irena Kosíková

  Czech organist and composer Irena Kosíková was born in Prague into the intellectual family of the prohibited philosopher Karel Kosík and literarary scientist Růžena Grebeníčková, the Herder prize laureate. She began her organ studies with Prof. Jan Hora, together with piano lessons given by Prof. Eliška Kleinová and Prof. Arnoštka Grünfeldová. Irena Kosíková studied organ performance (Prof. Jaroslava Potměšilová) and conducting (with Prof. Karel Fiala) at Ježek's Conservatory. She was refused to further her studies for political reasons. She took private composition lessons with Prof. Miroslav Raichl. Finally after the Velvet Revolution she was accepted at the Janáček Academy of Music (JAMU) in Brno into the organ class of Prof. Alena Veselá and Prof. Kamila Klugarová. She graduated at the Academy of Music (HAMU) in Prague, under the guidance of Prof. Josef Popelka. Irena Kosíková now gives organ concerts and is also intensively composing. Her works have been performed in the Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Sweden and the United Kingdom. As an organist she specialises in the interpretation of organ works written by Johann Sebastian Bach: including performances of the complete Organ Toccatas, Voluntaries, Leipzig Chorals, The Art of Fugue, Organ Mass. More information is available on http://www.iKosik.com .